Get a Job at Airbnb: Interview Process and Top Questions

Learn how to prepare for Airbnb interviews with this in-depth guide.

We break down the Airbnb interview process and the top questions you should expect to answer.

About Airbnb

Founded in 2008, Airbnb is a travel and hospitality platform that has transformed how people experience the world.

Now a giant in the tech world, with over 5 million hosts offering properties to guests across 220+ countries and regions, Airbnb continues to expand its mission of creating a sense of belonging anywhere.

Where is Airbnb located?

With headquarters in San Francisco, California, Airbnb operates globally, with offices in major cities such as Dublin, Amsterdam, Barcelona, Beijing, and Singapore.

The company employs thousands of people worldwide, known internally as "Airbnb-ers."

Who does Airbnb hire?

Airbnb prioritizes cultural fit and values alignment over traditional qualifications.

The company hires candidates who embody its mission of connection and belonging.

Airbnb reviews over 15,000 applications per month, making it one of the most competitive workplaces in tech.

Airbnb offers excellent benefits, including a remote-first work-from-anywhere policy.

Airbnb Interview Guides

Get role-specific insights for Airbnb interviews:

• Airbnb Software Engineer (SWE) Interview Guide
• Airbnb Engineering Manager (EM) Interview Guide
• Airbnb Product Manager (PM) Interview Guide

Airbnb Interview Process

The Airbnb interview process includes:

• A recruiter phone screen,
• A technical challenge or hiring manager screen,
• Virtual or on-site final round interviews.

Airbnb states that candidates should expect an interview process like working there, "both rigorous and fun!"

The company cares deeply about its core values, so expect them to be evaluated throughout every stage.

How long does the interview process take?

Airbnb's interview process typically takes about 4 weeks and is usually fast-moving between each round.

Many candidates hear back from Airbnb just a few hours after a successful round, reflecting the company's commitment to providing timely feedback.

Does Airbnb's interview process vary by role?

Airbnb's interview process follows a consistent structure across all roles, with variations primarily occurring in the technical assessment stage.

Engineering roles often involve live coding challenges.

Non-technical roles may include hiring manager screens or take-home assignments.

Is there a take-home assignment?

Yes, many roles include take-home assignments.

Non-coding technical roles, such as data scientists, often receive multi-day take-home challenges, while product managers typically receive case studies that focus on product sense and analytical skills.

Recruiter Phone Screen

The interview process at Airbnb begins with a 30-45-minute phone call with a recruiter, regardless of the role you're applying for.

This initial screen evaluates your experience, cultural fit, and knowledge of Airbnb's mission and values.

What is the Airbnb recruiter screen?

Be prepared to discuss:

• Your resume and background,
• Why you want to work at Airbnb,
• How you've demonstrated Airbnb's core values in previous work,
• Questions about the specific role and team.

Highlight experiences that demonstrate your alignment with Airbnb's mission of creating a sense of belonging and your ability to work in a collaborative, values-driven environment.

How should I prepare for the recruiter call?

To prepare for the Airbnb recruiter screen, thoroughly research Airbnb's core values, company culture, recent product launches, and business model.

Practice articulating specific examples of how you've embodied values like "Belong Anywhere" and "Champion the Mission" in your previous roles.

Technical Screen

If you pass the recruiter screen, you'll move on to the technical assessment, which varies significantly by role.

What is the Airbnb technical screen?

For technical roles, such as software engineering, this involves a 45-minute coding assessment on HackerRank.

You will solve medium to hard algorithm problems, and your code must run. Airbnb doesn't accept pseudocode.

Engineering roles involve live coding challenges that focus on data structures and algorithms.

Is the technical screen difficult?

Airbnb's coding challenges are intentionally designed to be challenging, ranging from medium to hard difficulty.

The 45-minute time constraint emphasizes the importance of speed.

Practice solving complex problems quickly while maintaining code quality.

What about non-technical roles?

Non-coding technical roles like data scientists receive take-home challenges involving SQL, data analysis, or ML models.

Non-technical roles, such as product managers, receive hiring manager screens that focus on past experience and analytical thinking, as well as case studies involving product sense and impact measurement.

Final Round Interviews

Airbnb's final round involves multiple interviews with various stakeholders over a whole day.

This can be conducted on-site at an Airbnb campus or virtually, depending on the role and circumstances.

Final round structure

For technical roles, such as engineering, expect:

• Multiple coding rounds,
• System design interviews,
• Behavioral assessments,
• Cross-functional team interviews.

Final round for non-technical roles

Non-technical roles will involve one-on-one interviews covering various aspects of the role, including the presentation of take-home assignments and in-depth discussions about past experience.

Is there a behavioral component?

All candidates, regardless of their role, will undergo an extensive behavioral assessment focusing on cultural fit and alignment with Airbnb's core values.

How long is Airbnb's final round?

Airbnb's final round typically consists of 3-4 one-hour interviews spread across a whole day.

The hiring manager makes the final decision, and successful candidates can expect to receive offers within a few days to a week.

Airbnb Interview Questions

These are examples of real interview questions asked at Airbnb.

Behavioral

• Why do you want to work at Airbnb?
• What does "belong anywhere" mean to you?
• Tell me about a time you were a good host.
• Describe a time when you went above and beyond your job description.
• What part of our mission resonates the most with you?

Coding

• Given the head of two singly linked lists, write a function to return the point where they intersect (if any).
• Find the minimum window substring.
• Given two strings (Word 1 and Word 2) and a list of valid words from a dictionary, return the minimum number of operations required to convert Word 1 to Word 2.
• Design and implement a data structure for Least Recently Used (LRU) cache.
• Given an array of integers, find the subarray with the maximum sum.

System Design

• Design Airbnb's search functionality.
• Design Airbnb wallet payment system.
• How would you build a chatbot service for the Airbnb platform?
• Design a rental room inventory management system.
• Design a system to handle booking conflicts and cancellations.

Data Science

• Improve Airbnb's recommendation algorithm for guests.
• How would you analyze the effects of a major change to a product if it were not possible to run an A/B test?
• How would you go about designing a metric for customer service calls?
• Assume an important metric goes down. How would you investigate the causes?
• Design an experiment to test a new feature for host onboarding.

Machine Learning

• How would you improve Airbnb's recommendation algorithm for guests?
• Describe the steps to deploy a machine learning model to production.
• Explain the bias-variance tradeoff.
• Propose a machine learning solution to predict guest cancellations.
• How would you build a pricing optimization model for hosts?

Product Management

• Assume you're the PM at Airbnb. How would you increase bookings?
• How would you change the perception of hotels on Airbnb's platform?
• What do you think are Airbnb's biggest risks?
• What should Airbnb's key north star metrics be?
• How would you prioritize features for Airbnb's mobile app?

Behavioral

The behavioral assessment at Airbnb focuses on:

• Cultural fit with core values,
• Mission alignment,
• Communication skills,
• Leadership potential,
• And a collaborative mindset.

Culture fit is important at Airbnb.

The behavioral rounds begin with your first interview and continue through the final round.

How should I prepare for behavioral questions at Airbnb?

Prepare by thoroughly understanding Airbnb's core values and mission statement: "To create a world where anyone can belong anywhere."

Have specific stories ready that demonstrate how you've personally and professionally embodied each of the four core values in past experiences.

For behavioral interview questions, focus on examples that demonstrate your ability to foster a sense of belonging, champion the mission, and work collaboratively.

Coding

Airbnb's coding rounds are known for their difficulty and focus on:

• Algorithm implementation,
• Data structure manipulation,
• Problem-solving under time pressure,
• Code quality and efficiency.

How are coding rounds structured?

Each round lasts 45-60 minutes and is conducted 1-on-1 with Airbnb engineers.

The final round coding interviews typically include 1-2 technical rounds focused on algorithms and data structures.

What is the focus of coding rounds?

Airbnb's coding challenges emphasize practical algorithm problems that could relate to real-world scenarios.

Common topics include:

• Sorting algorithms,
• Binary search,
• Stacks and queues,
• Graph search,
• Arrays,
• Recursion and dynamic programming.

What does Airbnb look for in engineers?

Beyond technical skills, Airbnb seeks engineers who can communicate clearly, think systematically, and work collaboratively across teams.

Remember to think out loud during coding interviews, as interviewers assess your problem-solving process as much as your final solution.

System Design

Airbnb's system design interviews focus on building scalable systems for travel and hospitality use cases.

Expect to design complex systems that could be part of Airbnb's platform or address similar challenges in the travel industry.

How should I prepare for Airbnb's system design round?

To prepare, familiarize yourself with Airbnb's product ecosystem and technical architecture.

Study the unique challenges of travel platforms, including search functionality, booking systems, payment processing, and recommendation engines.

Key concepts to review:

• APIs and microservices architecture,
• Load balancing for high-traffic scenarios,
• SQL vs. NoSQL for different data types,
• Caching strategies for search and recommendations,
• Real-time messaging and notification systems.

Data Science

At Airbnb, data scientists collaborate closely with product, engineering, and business teams to inform data-driven decisions across the platform.

What are Airbnb's data interviews?

Airbnb's data final round typically consists of two interviews, each lasting 45-60 minutes.

You'll present your take-home challenge, which usually involves analyzing real Airbnb data and recommending product improvements.

How are data science interviews structured?

The first interview focuses on your take-home presentation, where you'll explain your analytical approach, findings, and recommendations.

The second interview involves live problem-solving with the hiring manager, including SQL queries and mini-case studies.

Be prepared to discuss:

• Statistical analysis and A/B testing methodologies,
• Data manipulation and visualization techniques,
• Business impact measurement,
• Cross-functional collaboration experiences.

Machine Learning

Machine learning engineers at Airbnb build and deploy ML systems that power personalization, search ranking, pricing optimization, and fraud detection across the platform.

What are Airbnb's machine learning interviews?

The ML interview process includes presenting your take-home challenge, solving whiteboard ML problems, and discussing past ML projects in depth.

You'll need to demonstrate expertise in:

• Model development and evaluation,
• Production ML system design,
• Feature engineering and data pipeline architecture,
• A/B testing for ML models.

How do I prepare for Airbnb's machine learning interviews?

Get familiar with Airbnb's ML applications:

• Categories: ML system powering Airbnb's Categories feature for destination discovery,
• Chronon: Declarative feature engineering framework developed by Airbnb,
• Home prioritization: ML-driven ranking systems for search results,
• Pricing optimization: Dynamic pricing models for hosts,
• Fraud detection: ML models protecting the platform from malicious activity.

Product Management

Airbnb's product management final round includes at least 2 interviews with PM leaders and cross-functional partners.

You'll present your take-home case study and discuss product strategy, execution, and analytical thinking.

Product sense

Product sense interviews assess your ability to identify user problems, generate solutions, and think strategically about Airbnb's product ecosystem.

Be prepared to discuss specific Airbnb products and propose improvements based on user research and market understanding.

Analytical questions

Analytical interviews test your ability to use data for decision-making.

Practice explaining your analytical framework, metric selection, and how you'd measure success for product initiatives.

Execution questions

Execution rounds focus on your ability to work cross-functionally, prioritize features, and drive projects to completion.

Prepare examples that demonstrate your collaboration with engineering, design, and business teams.

Product strategy

Strategy discussions examine your long-term thinking about Airbnb's market position, competitive landscape, and growth opportunities.

Research Airbnb's business model, competitive threats, and expansion strategies.

Airbnb Interview Tips

Emphasize cultural fit and values alignment.

Airbnb prioritizes cultural fit above all else. Every interview round includes a behavioral assessment, so be prepared to provide specific examples that demonstrate each core value.

Practice articulating how you create belonging in your work and personal life, and how you champion missions beyond your immediate responsibilities.

Prepare for challenging technical assessments.

Airbnb's technical challenges are intentionally complex and time-constrained.

For coding rounds, practice solving medium to hard algorithm problems within 45 minutes. Focus on writing clean, working code since pseudocode isn't accepted.

Know Airbnb's products inside and out.

Many interview questions are product-specific, requiring deep knowledge of Airbnb's platform, features, and business model.

Study the guest and host experiences, understand key pain points, and be ready to propose improvements based on your analysis.

FAQs

How difficult are Airbnb interviews?

Airbnb interviews are highly competitive and challenging. With over 15,000 applications monthly and a rigorous multi-round process, thorough preparation is essential.

The technical assessments are particularly demanding, requiring both speed and accuracy under time pressure.

Does Airbnb hire without experience in travel or hospitality?

Yes. Airbnb values diverse perspectives and hires talent from various industries, including engineering, design, consulting, healthcare, and education.

The company prioritizes cultural fit and potential over industry-specific experience, though understanding of the travel ecosystem is beneficial.

Does Airbnb offer internship programs?

Airbnb offers robust internship programs for undergraduate and graduate students, often hiring previous interns as full-time employees.

Internships last 12-16 weeks and are available across engineering, data science, product management, and business functions.

Does Airbnb offer remote work options?

Approximately 30-40% of Airbnb employees work entirely remotely as part of the company's "Live and Work Anywhere" policy.

The rest follow hybrid schedules or work from Airbnb offices in cities including San Francisco, Dublin, Amsterdam, Barcelona, Singapore, and others worldwide.

Airbnb Interview Prep

Exponent has extensive resources to prepare you to feel your best when it comes time for your interview at Airbnb:

• 💬 Brush up on interview questions asked at Airbnb
• 📖 Read through these role-specific Airbnb interview guides